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Using Importance-Performance Analysis Method to Evaluate the Fundamental Chemistry Competence in the Universities of Science and Technology in Taiwan

1. Introduction On April 10th 1994, an Alliance for Education Reform Movement held a parade to cry out for an education reform in Taiwan. For more than a decade, the Taiwanese education system, from elementary schools to universities, has been reshaped by the education reform. There is no intention to depict the details of Taiwanese education reform. Nonetheless, the impact of changes in the higher education system needs to be noted. It provides crucial background for the purpose of this study. As one of the four major requests from the Alliance to promulgate education reform, increasing the number of universities later became one of the main policies targeted by Taiwanese Ministry of Education (MOE). In order to implement this policy, MOE in Taiwan lifted the restrictions on founding new universities and was keen to upgrade junior colleges to universities of science and technology. As a result, the increase of universities had an immense influence on higher education in Taiwan. Some statistics could exemplify the distinct change. There were a total of 171 colleges and universities (including colleges/universities of technology) in 2007 compared to only 53 in 1995 (Ministry of Education, 2008). Based on statistics from the Ministry of Interior (2009), the percentage of the population studying in colleges/universities (including junior colleges, colleges, universities and universities of science and technology) steeply rose from 34.76% of total population between age 20 and 24 to 65.23%, making a 30.5% jump during the passing two decades. Currently, higher education opportunities are widely accessible in Taiwan, but ironically fierce competition, once happening among students who tried to squeeze into universities, has shifted to schools which are under pressure to recruit enough new students, in particular to those new colleges/universities of technology (Kuo, 2009). Some critics claim that students in the new universities/universities of technology are not capable of being a university graduate. Likewise, it is generally believed by Taiwanese industries that the fundamental knowledge of chemistry by many graduates from universities of science and technology could not satisfy the industry demand. Accordingly, the present study aims to assess the fundamental chemistry knowledge of chemical engineering students in Taiwanese technical universities. The study will provide useful information about the real picture of students’ fundamental chemistry competence. More importantly, the assessment was combined with an index of fundamental chemistry knowledge as established by a survey of experts. Thereby, the researchers argue that the assessment outcomes associated with the importance index of fundamental chemistry knowledge could be applied in the evaluation of current curriculum design for chemical engineering education as well as in the improvement of lecturers’ instructions by means of the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) methods.

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Kuo, K., & Chen, P., & Hsu, M. (2010, June), Using Importance Performance Analysis Method To Evaluate The Fundamental Chemistry Competence In The Universities Of Science And Technology In Taiwan Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16376